A legendary
Japanese swordsmith from the 14th century. The swords he and his son
Sadamune crafted are considered works of art rather than weapons, and are quite
priceless.
The method he used to create his swords involved taking four masame bars, stack them on top of each other, and weld and double weld them 5 times over, producing 4,194,304 layers.
(32,768 * 4 = 131,072 * 2^5 = 4,194,304)
There is a legend behind Masamune's swords. One man took a Masamune sword, and another sword by rival swordsmith, Muramasa, and placed them in a river. All the dead leaves that floated down the stream towards the Muramasa sword were sliced cleanly in two, while all the leaves that went past Masamune's sword floated around both sides, never touching the blade.